Children's Books from Aleph-Bet Books

- by Michael Stillman

Children's Books from Aleph-Bet Books

There's not much more that can be said about Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known to readers as Lewis Carroll, and his young girl friends. He had many of them, the most famous, of course, being the inspiration for Alice. It is doubtful he could have such relationships today without being arrested, but Dodgson wrote for children and had been a children's photographer. For all the relationships, there has never been any evidence he acted other than properly. Item 110 includes two portraits of girls taken by Dodgson. One, titled "The little acrobat," is of Beatrice Hatch, one of three sisters he photographed. The other, captioned "Xie," is of Alexandra "Xie" Kitchin, daughter of a colleague and perhaps his greatest favorite, whom Dodgson photographed from childhood through adult life. Included with the photographs is an Easter greeting card from the author and a letter he wrote to the mother of Enid Stevens, in which he makes arrangements for her to come by train to pay him a visit. Item 110. $35,000.

 

Theodor Geisel, also better known by his penname, Dr. Seuss, did some commercial art along with his books. His drawings were always captivating, for adults as well as children. Item 503 is a large, original watercolor the good "doctor" created for the Holly Sugar Company. This 12" x 27" image shows a frowning goat eating some gears and other junked equipment with a caption reading, "All it needs is…" After the wording is a picture of a bag of Holly Sugar. Item 503. $60,000.

 

Aleph-Bet Books may be reached at 914-764-7410

or Helen@alephbet.com. Their website is found at www.alephbet.com.